#Girlboss

" "A #GIRLBOSS is in charge of her own life. She gets what she wants because she works for it." The first thing Sophia Amoruso sold online wasn't fashion-it was a stolen book. She spent her teens hitchhiking, committing petty theft, and dumpster diving. By twenty-two, she had resigned herself to employment, but was still broke, directionless, and working a mediocre day job she'd taken for the health insurance. It was there that Sophia decided to start selling vintage clothes on eBay. Eight years later, she is the founder, CEO, and creative director of Nasty Gal, a $100 million plus online fashion retailer with more than 350 employees. Sophia's never been a typical CEO, or a typical anything, and she's written #GIRLBOSS for outsiders (and insiders) seeking a unique path to success, even when that path is winding as all hell and lined with naysayers. #GIRLBOSS includes Sophia's story, yet is infinitely bigger than Sophia. It's deeply personal yet universal. Filled with brazen wake-up calls ("You are not a special snowflake"), cunning and frank observations ("Failure is your invention"), and behind-the-scenes stories from Nasty Gal's meteoric rise, #GIRLBOSS covers a lot of ground. It proves that being successful isn't about how popular you were in high school or where you went to college (if you went to college). Rather, success is about trusting your instincts and following your gut, knowing which rules to follow and which to break. A #GIRLBOSS takes her life seriously without taking herself too seriously. She takes chances and takes responsibility on her own terms. She knows when to throw punches and when to roll with them. When to button up and when to let her freak flag fly. As Sophia writes, "I have three pieces of advice I want you to remember: Don't ever grow up. Don't become a bore. Don't let The Man get to you. OK? Cool. Then let's do this." "-- Provided by publisher."The first thing Sophia Amoruso sold online wasn't fashion - it was a stolen book. She spent her teens hitchhiking, committing petty theft, and dumpster diving. By age twenty-two, she had resigned herself to employment, but was still broke, directionless, and checking IDs in the lobby of an art school--a job she'd taken for the health insurance. It was in that lobby that Sophia decided to start selling vintage clothes on eBay. Flash forward eight years to today, and she's the Founder, CEO and Creative Director of Nasty Gal, a $100+ million online fashion retailer with over 350 employees. Sophia's never been a typical CEO, or a typical anything, and she's written #GIRLBOSS for girls like her: outsiders (and insiders) seeking a unique path to success, even when that path is windy as all hell and lined with naysayers. "-- Provided by publisher.

I’m really not impressed by someone who starts a company by selling things she shoplifted. Sophia Amoruso says luck had nothing to do with it, which is ridiculous. I’m sure she works hard, and she’s clearly passionate about her company. But this book tells story of someone clueless who got a lot of breaks. She’s the type of person who bought herself a Porsche, but then got irrationally angry that her employees got nice office chairs without her approval. She made them sell the chairs on Craigslist rather than let them have the same type of chair she has! She may think of herself as #Girlboss, but mostly I read this book thinking about how horrible she would be to work for. Knowing that her company recently filed for bankruptcy makes reading this self-righteous, unhelpful book even more frustrating.

I was really hoping I would love this book (and get a ton of ways to be a kick@$$ female), but it was more of a memoir of how Sophia created Nasty Gal. Don't get me wrong, the story is definitely interesting (and it was a really quick read), but I didn't feel as though I walk away with any action steps - but maybe that is just because I am not a #GIRLBOSS...

This book seems like it is written for teenagers looking for a little bit of motivation to start a fashion blog. It is offensive at times and one can only read so much about how awesome Sophia thinks she is. Ugh, groan! This book basically tells you that she didn't need a business degree and this book will teach you everything you need to know to be successful... but don't worry she also makes sure to tell you that you won't be as successful as her.
It is quite obvious she was trying to fill pages with quotations, black pages in between chapters, and common sense dribble about the job market. Sophia should stick to running her own business instead of trying to convince people that if they work hard enough they might one day work for her.

This was a good book, an easy to read business book. I believe this book is geared towards millennials, mostly women but young men could take some nuggets from this as well. There was some very common sense things in here, but then again, some of the reminders she provides are ones that seem to be disappearing from the business world. Her story proves a very good point - no matter what shortcuts that technology provides us and opportunities are out there that allow us to jump from career to career as we please with less consequences than 10-15 years ago, hard work is crucial.

PrimaGigi
Jul 19, 2015

"I'M NOT A FUCKING A "WOMAN IN MUSIC," I'M A FUCKING MUSICIAN IN MUSIC!" -Neko Case in response to a Playboy Tweet.

I have a huge issue when a woman claims to be a sea-saw feminist , but says shes not that type of sea-saw feminist. It will always be a pet-peeve of mine, that a grown woman still refers to herself in the terms of "girl" you don't want to be defined by your sex, then stop referencing the engendered difference in being a female boss. You are simply a boss. There is a little to no business advice in this book, it is heavily repetitive and contradictory (also it seems like a set-up to teach you how work for Nasty Gal). She mentions how much of a hard worker she was, while leaving a job every two weeks or only a few months after. I question how exactly how someone can exclaim to be a hard worker, but just leave a job so quickly. It's mentioned that at the time this could be done, but that does not work in this day and age. You can't jump from one job to another. In another chapter she exclaims how to be a hard worker. There are a million Cinderella stories, that are much better. And the people telling it are less self-absorbed and condescending. She doesn't believe in luck, but magic (It's actually suggested you do this) is possible and positive thinking will get the universe to care. The universe doesn't care about us, there are no reasons for anything, other then what you are willing to put into it. Good or bad will happen, it all depends on you interpret the situation.

This should have been published as an autobiography, which in reality it was. There are only few nugget of business acumen and adive in this book; which granted she mentions she has had no professional training, so writing a book to help others in business seems odd. It just seems like one continuous promotional free-marketing plan for her brand. I have no problem with a woman talking about her many accomplishments, please don't be humble, but my issue is that when you are trying to open a door for other women, you are trying to insert them into the reality of the world in which you venture into daily. Pretending that it's always amazing and that you always land in a pile of cow shit is misleading. There should have been stories of failure and how she truly did dig herself or her company out of the muck. That's what people want, they want the reality of what they are being told is crazy to do. You can speak about saving money, which is ideal and can happen, but there are so many other things other then that can happen. Needless to say this book wasn't for me. Also the hash tag in front of everything isn't cool at all, but annoying and detracts from you telling us how cool you think you are.

4 stars.
If you enjoyed Man Repeller, you'll also enjoy this which is similar .... A modern how-to book for the young career minded which has straightforward and practical advice from a hip rich successful businesswoman. Funny, inspiring and great to hear words from a young woman who doesn't fit the typical profile in the corporate world.

Quotes

“No matter where you are in life, you'll save a lot of time by not worrying too much about what other people think about you. The earlier in your life that you can learn that, the easier the rest of it will be.”